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RETIREMENT PLANNING

IMPORTANCE OF RETIREMENT PLANNING

Many people make investments with an eye on the prize of a comfortable retirement. With an ageing population and diverse client needs, with our help it’s a business opportunity to make the most of. Get in touch – contact your Account Manager or you can call us on 0330 678 2545.

INCOME IN RETIREMENT

Clients need to feel confident they’ll have a level of retirement income to meet their needs. You’ll be helping them to make the right level of contributions, invested in a manner that suits their risk profile.

With our wide range of features both on and off platform, we can ensure that your clients are getting the income they need for their retirement.

PLATFORM

The Scottish Widows Platform is fully equipped to manage income payments to clients in an efficient and simple manner. Our platform is one of only a few in the market to offer the fundamental ability of a single, consolidated income from across all tax wrappers – a critical part of managing clients’ cash flow in a predictable and sustainable fashion.

PENSION FREEDOMS

Pension freedoms have given your clients more flexibility in their retirement options, and we’re pleased that our platform can help facilitate the retirement they desire. Embark platform can support a wide-range of capped and flexi-access drawdown options as well as alternatives including Uncrystallised Fund Pension Lump Sum (UFPLS).

FUNCTIONALITY TO SUPPORT INCOME

  • A comprehensive pre-funding service that ensures payments are received quickly and efficiently.
  • A suite of modelling tools to help support income delivery.
  • Natural income is paid into tax wrapper cash.

TAKING RETIREMENT BENEFITS – HELPING CLIENTS WITH THEIR OPTIONS

Here are some of the areas you’ll come across advising clients about taking retirement benefits.

1. TRANSITIONING INTO RETIREMENT

At some stage your client will reduce/stop working and take their benefits and just because they retire, it won’t mean the end of your ongoing advice. So what are the options?

  • Drawdown – Do they want to keep their pension fund invested and have the option to flex their income up or down, but without the certainty of a guaranteed income?
  • Annuities – Do they need a reliable, guaranteed level of income where they’ll always know what they’ll get from one year to the next? Could they get a significantly higher income from an enhanced annuity due to any health or lifestyle issues?
  • Small Lump Sums – take the entire value of a pension as a lump sum.
Information on the Commutation of Small Pension Pots

2. TAX FREE CASH

People choose to take a tax free cash sum for a number of reasons:

Being prepared – Some people will be looking simply to get their financial affairs straight before entering retirement, or create a readily accessible nest egg for emergencies.

Pay off a mortgage – Or other debts such as credit cards or loans.

Investing in an ISA – Your client could use the cash sum to further improve their income in retirement – again tax free.

Please note:

  • It is not permissible to re-invest a tax-free cash sum in another pension product. For more information see Pension Reinvestment.
  • By taking a cash sum from their pension, your client will reduce their income potential in retirement.

MAXIMISING CONTRIBUTIONS

Clients are looking to maximise their pension contributions. These are some of the key areas you’ll come across when developing your advice recommendations.

USING THE CONTRIBUTION ALLOWANCES TO MAXIMUM EFFECT

Tax-relievable contributions to a pension are limited by an annual allowance, currently set at £60,000. ‘Unused’ annual allowances from the previous three tax years can be carried forward.

Carry forward

Pension Input Periods and the Annual allowance

Personal allowance and pension contribution

Your client may not want to take an annuity, but just take their tax-free cash and leave their remaining pot invested. While they may not need to take an income from their pension, have you considered the benefits of re-investing the potential income?

PENSION REINVESTMENT

Directors of private companies have long looked for the most efficient way to extract profits from the business. Pension contributions are a viable route.

SALARY VS. DIVIDENDS OR PENSION CONTRIBUTIONS

If an option, using salary sacrifice can help your clients to reduce their income tax and NI, helping to increase their pension contributions, or make their existing level of saving more affordable. Please bear in mind that tax treatment will depend on your client’s individual circumstances and may change in the future.

ISAs offer a flexible and tax-efficient way to increase retirement income, with the advantage of easy access, if required, before retirement.

CREATING AN INVESTMENT STRATEGY – HELPING CLIENTS WITH THEIR OPTIONS

There will be some key considerations when developing an investment strategy for your clients.

PENSION ACCOUNT CONSOLIDATION?

It’s increasingly likely, as pension savers move from one employer to another, that they will have built up benefits across a number of pension plans.

With providers using different fund specific projection rates, and with annual statements arriving at different times, it’s increasingly difficult for clients to get a clear view of what their plans are worth today, and how much income they’re likely to achieve when they retire.

Even if you’re moving other assets to the Scottish Widows Platform, transferring a pension is never an easy decision. Consolidating a number of plans into one isn’t likely to be a strong enough reason on its own, you’ll also need to consider:

  • the benefits provided by old plans as many won’t be available from a modern pension – like guaranteed annuity rates or pension term assurance
  • the potential downsides of older pension plans such as, higher charges and reduced flexibility
  • the potential better returns in the long-term by reducing your client’s overall charges within the Scottish Widows Platform compared to their old plans.

TRANSFERRING A PENSION

Most personal and occupation pension plans can be transferred to the Scottish Widows Platform. And, if the investments can be re-registered, your client doesn’t need to be out of the market.